When I talk about drama, I am not talking the BBC Period type drama, normally broadcast on a Sunday evening and involving bonnets. When I talk about drama, what I mean is big conflict over small offences. The kind of disagreement that starts small and then spirals out of control, causing multiple arguments, drawn out conflict and bad feeling between good people.

Paul paints a vivid picture of drama in 2 Corinthians 12:20, he says; “I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”

I’ve got to a place in my life now where I am fed up with drama. I’ve had enough of it. I don’t want to cause drama, and I don’t want to be swept up in other’s people drama either.

The good news is that God’s word can actually teach us a lot about how to dial down the drama. How can we reduce drama in our lives? How can we lessen the amount of time we spend in conflict with each other? How do we stop ourselves from being railroaded by minor issues? How do we nip disagreement in the bud?

Now dialing down drama, is a bit like trying to live plastic free – it’s a huge challenge! I am not living a completely drama free life, but I have sought out God’s advice on handling drama and by following these key scriptures I have reduced the amount of sleep I lose, energy I waste, friends I hurt and worry spent on drama. So, I thought I should share what the Bible says on this here, in case any one else wants to dial down the drama in their lives.

So, how do we dial down the drama?

Let it Go – Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9

Shrug off things that could be insults, shake off petty annoyances, don’t make a big deal of things that aren’t a big deal.

A key to letting it go is learning the difference between a speck and a plank.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:1: ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A speck is an irritation and annoyance. You would be happier without specks in your life, for sure, but they are fairly easy to get rid of. A plank is a big deal – if you had a plank in your eye, you would have a serious problem.

The problem is that we often see a speck and then say, “ah, but it could be a plank”. We use phrases like; “I think it is a bigger issue than that”, “I think this is a deeper problem”, or we blurt out mid argument; “It’s not about the party it’s that you have never liked my mother!”

If you make little problems about a much bigger issue every time you have a minor disagreement, you’ll always be neck-deep in drama.

When something happens that makes you feel hurt, cross, offended or annoyed. Try and take a step back to ask; Does this really matter? Do I believe this person truly tried to hurt me? – because most times they didn’t. And even if they did, so what? So what if not everyone likes you? So what if they took a little dig? If they want to be petty, that’s their problem, not yours. Do you know how infuriating it is when you act oblivious to an insult you have been given? Or when you repay pettiness with kindness?

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. Proverbs 25:21-22

2.Don’t recruit a gang –If your brother sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.Matthew 18:15

Understand that it is never your job to punish one another. Punishment is about trying to hurt people back. The aim in your life shouldn’t be too punish people but to win them over. The aim is to have a friendship that works for both of you. That goal becomes a lot harder to accomplish if ten other people put them in the dog house because you have gone round telling everyone how they have hurt you. So speak with them privately first. Having lots of people on your side doesn’t make you right. This is the second easiest way to reduce drama; keep the players involved to as small a number as you can. It’s simple maths!

3. Stop feeding the fire – Without wood a fire goes out, without a gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. Proverbs 26:30-21.

Drama is like a fire – it dies out when you stop feeding it. Don’t talk on and on about it; don’t pick over it over lunch, or text about it in to the night. Especially when you are not involved in conflict, you don’t need to know all the gory details and updates. Talking about it endlessly just stirs up the emotions but doesn’t really help it.

If you want to dial down the drama, then one of the best things you can do is shut up about it. One of my favourite verses in the Bible is in the book of Job when Job has had enough of the unhelpful talk of his three comforters, he suddenly exclaims:

If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom –Job 13:5

Or Proverbs 10:19 puts it a bit more gently; Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.

Here is the thing; drama is entertaining, it can be fun to hear the latest of what has gone down, but that kind of talk is not helpful. Stop feeding the fire, but when you have to talk, keep Ephesians 4:29 in mind: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

4. Remember your common ground – Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer. 2 Thessalonians 3:15

Most people, even ones that cause you grief haven’t really set out to hurt you. Don’t paint them in your head as the evil mastermind behind your troubles. Most people who rub you up the wrong way don’t even know they are being unreasonable. Jesus said whoever is not against you is for you.

Families may fall out but you are still a family. Your work colleague may annoy you but you’re still part of one team trying to get a job done. Your friends in church might hold different beliefs than you on some areas of Christian living but as long as you both believe in Jesus, you will always have more that unites you than separates you.

Drama magnifies our differences so we need to make a conscious effort to recognise that our common ground is much more important than where we differ.

5. Keep turning up, keep doing good –And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. Hebrews 10:24-25

Sulking exacerbates a conflict – so if there has been an argument, one of the best things you can do is keep calm and carry on. Carry on coming to church, carry on serving, carry on being in relationship with one another, carry on going to work. The first time you’re in a room with someone after a conflict things may be awkward but it will soon pass. Don’t storm off. Don’t give up. Don’t pick up your ball and go home, never to return.

For every argument you have, try and make ten great memories. Outweigh the bad with the good. My friend once told me that when she was little was told off by her dad, and she was upset so she went crying to find her mum to comfort her. But she had forgotten that her mum was out shopping and wasn’t there. When my friend realised her mum was out she went back to her dad for a cuddle. She knew that even though her dad had told her off, that he loved her and was her source of comfort. We need to learn that too – just because we don’t agree all the time, it doesn’t mean we are to stop being friends or a source of comfort and support to one another.

And those are five Biblical ways to dial down the drama in your life. Time is too short and friendships are too precious to squander on drama, drama, drama! We all have our dramaqueen moments, but let’s not let drama be a draining distraction from the much more important and frankly, enjoyable, things in life

I am a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I even have a notebook dedicated for tracking my New Year’s Resolutions. I have kept it since 2011. Sometimes I only have one resolution and use my notebook as a simple diary to journal my experiences. Other years I go overboard and have a dozen targets, split in to categories (faith, home, work, and personal) and then I track my progress using charts and lists. I have tried various goal tracker apps out there that do similar things but I always return to my old big red notebook.

Sometimes I feel like I have a word that sums up what I hope to achieve or experience that year, and for 2019 my word is “Centered”.

I am aware that I have lots of voices that have a say in my life, and perhaps I give some voices too much power over my identity or my priorities. I also know that I have many responsibilities to juggle and lots of things that I would like to do but only so much time in which I can do them.

Rather than try and find ways to do all these things, or please every voice I am going to spend time strengthening the foundations of my life; the things,values and commitments that everything else must be built around. I am prioritizing the basics and focusing on the simple things.

For me, my basics, my essential foundations are my relationship with Jesus and loving Rob and Orla. If I can get these things right, everything else will flow.

My goal this year isn’t about trying to change much about my life situation but about valuing and strengthening the things I already have. I want more gratitude, fewer wishlists. More simplicity, less drama.

Here are my foundations that I am going to work on this year

Me and My God – I’m building up those habits that bring more of Jesus into my day. I am placing Bible reading back to first thing priority. I have the Bible app on my phone, so when I wake up and look at the time, I am opening up the Bible app straight away and reading my chapter (instead of opening Facebook!). I want to punctuate my day with more short prayers, those moments of space that I normally fill by flicking through mumsnet, I am trying to pray first, mess around on phone second.

Make the most of Sunday Services – Sundays are always busy days for me. At church there is always a job to do and about three people I need to talk to. But I don’t want to let my responsibilities as a leader to distract me from engaging with the service. I want to be focused in worship from the opening bars of the first song. And I want to really absorb each message – not critique it with my church leader hat on, but to listen and receive it as a disciple of Jesus. I think taking notes each Sunday would help me with this so I committing to bringing a notebook to church this year.

Keep the home happy – Clean sheets on the bed, the smell of good food in the kitchen, new flowers in the garden. All these little things make the house a good place for Rob, Orla and me to live, connect and have fun. It’s a scary world out there, and I can’t control it. But I can make our house a safe and happy place to be. When I connect that purpose to the housework I am much more motivated to get up and do stuff. And who doesn’t like relaxing in a tidy house?

Look after my body – I want to be more conscious of looking after myself too this year. A few more vegetables, a little less sofa time. Go to bed a little earlier, save that glass of wine for the weekend, instead of a Wednesday night. I’m not going all out to transform myself but I do want to look after me as I am now.

Because I am a geek, I have made SMART targets for all these areas and tracking sheets to help me build up good habits, but I won’t bore you with those! In essence my 2019 ambition is to take good care of the good things I have, build up strong foundations, and appreciate all my many blessings. I want to be centered on the important things and willing to let go of the unimportant stuff. Simplicity and focus are my buzzwords! Bring on 2019 – let’s make it good!

Rob, Orla and I spent last Friday night at Accident and Emergency after Orla fell and had a nasty bump on the head. It was our first trip to A&E with Orla and I thought I’d write down how we reached this most unwanted parenting milestone!

Orla and I had been playing in the dining room whilst Rob made tea. Orla was running around, jumping and dancing to her own made up songs whilst wearing her sparkly “princess” dress. Normal evening activity in our house! She suddenly stumbled after a jump, fell forward, and her precious little head landing slap bag on the marble corner of the fireplace.

I was sat right next to her, I saw it happen in slow motion but completely failed to move my arms quick enough to catch her. Nearly a week later and I still wince with guilt thinking about it. I knew it was going to be bad before she even had time to let out the first cry. I scooped her up in my arms and she buried her face in my chest. Rob heard the bang of her fall and came quickly to our side.

We gently moved Orla so we could see her head and, sure enough, she was bleeding. Rob is excellent in a crisis; he cleaned her up with kitchen roll and got me to hold a wad against her head to slow the bleeding. We gave her some calpol straight away too. In a few minutes she was sat on my knee on the sofa with a plaster on whilst Rob was on the phone with 111.

After answering their questions, the operator on the phone was satisfied that she wasn’t in immediate danger but recommended that we should go to Accident and Emergency to get her checked out anyway.

And that was when Orla really got upset. She was more distressed about going to hospital than she was about the bump.

She kept telling me; “We’re not going. I’m OK! I want to stay here, mummy!” That was heartbreaking, to upset her further after such a nasty fall, but we wanted to make absolutely sure she was OK, and we thought that her head may need gluing back together. I thought the sooner that cut was treated the better it would heal, so off to hospital we must go!

We got Orla out of the sparkly dress and into some comfy clothes. I got changed too; I’d got straight into my pajamas on coming home because I’d fancied a particularly lazy evening, but clearly a lazy evening was not on the cards anymore. We packed the baby bag with spare clothes, pajamas, a snack and a drink. Trying to be prepared in case we had to stay a long time.

Orla grew accustomed to the idea that we were going, and even helped choose some toys to take with us. Once in the car I texted our parents and a couple of close friends to let them know what had happened and we prayed. We knew our friends and parents would pray for her too. Orla fell asleep in the car. The operator had told us that was likely to happen and not to worry about it.

We had a minor panic in the carpark when we remembered that we would have to pay for parking. I’d forgotten my purse and Rob only had £1 in his wallet. I wrote out a note to put in our windscreen that said something like; “We have taken our 2 year old daughter to A&E, we only have £1. Please don’t fine us, 21/09/18, 6:20pm”

Luckily Rob found some change at the bottom of Orla’s bag whilst I was writing the note so he went and got the ticket. I know that finding change for parking is only a little hassle but little things feel like big things when you are already stressed. Later in the evening we discovered that I had packed my purse in the bag after all, my brain was just to frazzled to remember packing it. A couple of hours later when we were leaving there was still a few hours left on the ticket so Rob left it in the ticket machine so that the next person to arrive could use it.

We got into hospital and I instantly felt calmer for being in the place where there are doctors and nurses all around. We checked in at reception and were directed to a children’s waiting room. The room was small but had a collection of toys and books. There were about four other children in there. We settled in, with our very subdued little girl. She was very quiet and didn’t want to play with any of the toys. She just wanted to snuggle into us, wrapping her body around mine like a panda cub.

A quarter of an hour later a nurse called us into another room and did some observations. The nurse was warm and friendly but I could feel Orla’s tension rising. I could tell she was scared and soon on the verge of tears as the nurse looked in her eyes, ears and mouth, but she was really brave and let the nurse do her work.

Then the nurse wrapped a small disc around her finger and measured her heartrate. Well, Orla was terrified so her heartrate was sky high. I felt so sorry for her, and really wanted to convince her that everything was OK. This was all new to me but not to the nurse who suddenly produced some bubbles and we spent a few minutes popping bubbles and playing until Orla’s heartrate slowed to a more normal rate.

After the observations we were sent back to the waiting room to wait for the Doctor. Another twenty minutes went by. The Doctor came and took us into a different room. More observations, and this time the Doctor looked at the wound. He cleaned it and then said it would just need a little bit of glue. He then left and we waited for another person to come and administer the glue. Another ten minutes and she arrived. This second lady was brilliant. She got Orla chatting a little bit. To administer the glue Orla had to lie on the bed, so that the glue wouldn’t drip down her face. Orla was scared of lying down so the lady said that I could lie next to her. Orla and I were soon lying side by side on the bed whilst the doctor cleaned the cut and added the glue. She talked to Orla throughout and let her know what she was doing.

When she was finished she allowed Orla to choose a sticker from a big pack she had with her. Orla chose one of a smiling cat. Then the other Doctor came back and said that they would like us to stay for another couple of hours just so they can be absolutely sure that she wasn’t concussed.

Back to the waiting room we went. It was about 7:20pm so Rob took Orla to the toilet and got her dressed into her pajamas. Whilst they were in the toilet it was like someone flicked a switch on Orla. I could hear her little voice chatting to Rob and a couple of minutes late the toilet door opened and out walked Orla who loudly announced to the waiting room; “I don’t want to wear my shoes. Daddy put them in the bag for later.”

She was suddenly acting much more like her usual self. She sat on my knee, had a snack, read some stories and played with the toys. She even began making friends with a little boy who also had a big plaster on his forehead. At 8pm the Doctor observed her again and as she was talking and moving so much he said that there weren’t any immediate concerns and we could take her home. He gave us a leaflet of information of how to care for someone with a head injury and told us to call if we were concerned.

We couldn’t have asked for better care from the hospital. Everyone who treated Orla was kind and calm. We were at hospital for a couple of hours but we were seen by someone roughly every twenty minutes, and most importantly Orla got the treatment that she needed.

Orla talked the whole way home as we drove back in the car, a constant stream of toddler observations; “Hello Mr Moon! I can see a plane in the night sky. That is so interesting! I can see a tree mummy! And another tree! And another tree! And another tree!”

Picture taken way past bedtime when we got home. Tired eyes and injured but her smile was back!

Once home we heated up the tea that we had abandoned earlier and ate together. I gave Orla another dose of calpol and took her up to bed. At about ten o’clock she finally fell asleep. Rob and I were exhausted so we just each took a drink up to bed, read for a little bit, thanked God that she was OK and went to sleep.

And that is the story of Orla’s first (and I’d love to hope that it will be the last) trip to Accident and Emergency. I know it is a right of passage for all parents, and in hindsight it could have been a lot worse.

My first thoughts were ones of guilt and sadness that my little girl had hurt and that her precious body might be scarred. But those feelings lessened quickly. All bodies get bumped and scraped, knocked and scarred. It’s a sign of being alive.

My most lasting feelings are of gratitude. I am grateful that Orla has a perfectly healthy body. I am grateful for the NHS. And I am grateful that we had a God to pray to who we trusted would be with us as we tackled this hurdle. I feel grateful that my little girl was and is looked after from every side, by parents who love her, by a country that looks after it’s vulnerable citizens and by God who loves her even more than I do. That’s a lot to be grateful for!

It blew me away thinking about how “God mediates for the offender” means that God acts on behalf of the person who has done wrong to bring us back into good relationship with one another. God makes us face up to the consequences of our sin, and often we wish he wouldn’t, but this verse reminded me that when God pushes us to own up to what we have done, apologise or make amends with others, that is not him punishing us but instead that is God standing by our side helping us to fix the problems we have made.

As God mediates in our human disputes, so Jesus mediates and intercedes on our behalf to bring us into relationship with God. The answer to the question; “Who will intercede for them?” is Jesus. God himself will mediate for the offender.

“Going on a walk tomorrow. Meeting at ten thirty at Heritage Centre and tacking picnic walk to Water Meetings and maybe to Noggarth if you fancy it. X”

I got that txt the Sunday evening before the Bank Holiday Monday. A quick conflab with Rob confirmed that we did indeed fancy it. So on Monday morning we packed up the backpack with suncream, a picnic and spare clothes for Orla and set off to meet our friends at Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford. Our friends were there before us with their three children. We got out of the car, said hello and began applying sun cream on to Orla as we waited for a few others to join us.

More cars began pulling into the car park, and more and more of our friends piled out of them. The plan to go out for a walk had spread out quite far through our church network. Soon the small car park was busy with children and dogs straining to run off as bags were hoisted on to shoulders, babies were secured into slings and shoelaces were tightened.

Soon, twenty adults, ten children and four dogs set off on our walk. Ages ranged from 60+ to under six months old. We walked in a long train of chatter and laughter, following the river. We passed a couple of fields with some cows, “their enormous!” said Orla, then into a small woodland where the summer branches formed a green arched ceiling above our heads. Then over a broad wooden bridge till we came to the perfect picnic spot by the river bank.

We settled in, avoiding the sheep poop that was the only mar on such a beautiful location but that really is hard to avoid in the countryside round here. The picnics were eaten quickly before the children waded into the water. Orla loved throwing stones into the water making splashes and holding the bigger girls’ hands as she paddled.

The children began making a dam, and the adults were still building it long after the children lost interest. Rachel fell into the water to great hilarity. An informal game of rounders was played, rather hampered by the dogs who made excellent fielders, apart from the habit they had of catching the ball before the batter had chance to hit it.

At one point a farmer moved his sheep from one field to another and the whole herd skipped passed our picnic site (the dogs were kept on leads when this happened). Orla could not stop laughing with delight as the sheep and lambs trotted by so close to where we were standing.

When the sun got hotter we headed back to the Heritage Centre where every single person had an ice cream before we moved the party into Barrowford Park. More playing, more laughter, more chatting. Rolling down grass slopes, getting dizzy on the roundabout, kicking footballs.

About half two Rob, Orla and I said our goodbyes and headed home. We were later told the majority of the group later freshened up with a drink at the White Bear before heading to one of the houses for an impromptu barbeque. That sounded lush, but for us we knew our little girl was tired and ready for some down time. Not to mention a bath!

We were happy to come home, cool down, have a relaxed tea together and a chilled out evening. It’s all good! And that evening I thought, “this is what having a church family is all about.”

I was born in to the church that I now help to lead, and whilst we have our issues, I am proud that we truly are a family church. But it’s not just about having services were everyone is welcomed, it’s about belonging together. It’s about having a community of people who help one another out. People who will answer your call at 3am and people who pop round with food when you feel the world is falling down. It’s about the older girl who is shy in a group but takes your daughter by the hand and invites her into the game. And it’s about taking a day and making it really good, just by sharing it together, and being grateful together for the God who made it all possible.

And it’s not that the whole church does everything together, they were plenty of our church not there on that Bank Holiday Morning, and even Rob and I didn’t last the whole of that day’s frolics. But in general, I think I belong to a church that genuinely enjoys spending time together. The religious word for that is fellowship and whilst it sounds a bit twee in 2018, to me fellowship is a treasure that makes our good days richer and tough days easier.

Fellowship doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by generations of believers committing themselves to love the real people in front of them, rather than the perfect people you imagine the church should be. Fellowship happens when we issue open invitations over our plans for more people to join in, and fellowship happens where there is forgiveness and grace, and fun. Lots and lots of fun!

I have been Bible journaling for nearly two years now. I am by no means prolific, and only tend to complete a journal entry about once a month, but it is a practice that I find massively rewarding. One of the challenges I have with journaling is that I sometimes struggle to be motivated to do the study part, even though I know when I get going I will really enjoy it.

To help make studying Scriptures a bit more fun and organised (in my life, fun and organisation go hand in hand!) I decided to set up a notebook that was going to specifically for Bible Study notes. I use it make notes on the passages that I want to journal. I can use up as many pages as I like on one scripture and then afterwards choose one thought to journal in my Bible.

To keep it fun I try to make my notes colourful, eye catching and easy to read. One thing that has massively helped me are these stencils from Amazon. I don’t have great handwritings and very little artistic skill. Whilst I drool over other people’s doodles and bullet journal pages, I know that is not something I can easily reproduce. But these stencils help me to format my notebook pages in interesting ways and adds little flourishes without me having to spend a lot of time thinking about it.

Here is an example; these notes were made based on Exodus 8:1 – Let my People go so that they may worship me.

This got me thinking about how Moses demanding freedom from Pharaoh is similar to how Jesus delivers us from our Oppressor and into his freedom. A lot of the plagues that fall on Egypt could also be seen to foreshadow Jesus’ on the cross; water turned to blood, the darkness that fell, the loss of the firstborn and the Passover lamb. For my Bible entry I wanted the pages to depict the water turning into blood along with God’s firm command to the oppressor; Let my people go so that they may worship me.

My image didn’t turn out how I imagined it; I really am no artist and other people looking at it might not see the Nile turning into blood but for me when I look at this page I see God’s determined will to deliver us from oppression. It’s powerful to me, even if it isn’t to anyone else.

Now I am a few entries in I feel like I have a good flow with my study. I start with the Date, title and scripture and once I have taken the time to do that some thoughts and questions are already brewing in my mind. If I feel stuck I can follow my study process that I talked about here.

I like that now I can pick up my study book and flip through the pages and be reminded instantly of some great Scripture and what they mean. As a preacher I can also see how these studies could be the building blocks of future messages, which is exciting for me! But the main thing is that it has given me fresh motivation to sit down with my pens, notebook and Bible!

Bible Journaling is a habit I reflective practice I started last year and it has been a great blessing to my life. Bible Journaling is simply illustrating a verse or a passage of the Bible with a drawing on the page. It’s a form of reflecting on God’s word. If you want to know what Bible Journaling is and how I got into it, you can see an old blog post I wrote on it here.

I absolutely love Bible Journaling because it has helped me focus more on what God is teaching me in my life. I find when I journal a truth found in God’s word, I remember it more vividly as I am going about my day and it influences me more in how I make my choices. For example, after I had journaled the page above I became more aware the God is my refuge and when I was feeling lost or in trouble or in pain. I began to take my worries to God more in prayer because I know He is my safe place, and then I worried less.

So, today I thought I would share my process for Bible Journaling. Lots of different people have different ways of journaling but this is the way that I have found suits me the best.

Choosing a passage to journal: I read my Bible daily but I only journal a passage about once every two weeks. As I read my Bible I have a stack of little post it notes. If I read a verse that seems specially interesting or powerful I will make a note on a post it with the reference and a summary of the verse. Then I use the post it note to bookmark the page. Later, when I am ready to do some journaling I leaf through the pages until I see a post it note that sparks my interest. Then I begin….

I keep my process written down on the card above and I work through each step as I go. Some people may find this too restrictive or like homework, but I find this a good framework for lightly studying the Bible and learning more about the passage.

1. Read, read and read again. I begin by reading the verse or passage three times in a row. It’s a bit of a strange thing to do but I do tend to see different things each time I read it. If possible I will read the passage out loud one of the times.

2. Who was the author and who was the audience? This is the point when I get out my notebook and laptop to do a little research. I tend to write out me answers to the questions on single page of my note book. The first question I ask myself is who wrote this bit of the Bible and who were they writing it for. This helps to place the passage in it’s historical setting. A lot of Bibles have an introduction to each book of the Bible that answer these questions but if your doesn’t then www.biblestudytools.com is a good place to look. Check out their summary of the book of Deuteronomy here.

3. Locate the text in it’s setting. By this I mean, what is going on in the wider story. Is this set in the early days of history with Noah and the Ark, or is this a romantic love story written in a time of peace and plenty. This question helps me to understand where the passage fits in the bigger picture.

4. Make connections. Does this passage remind me of other stories or symbols in the Bible? So, if I am studying Psalm 23 about the Good Shepherd, I might make connections to Jesus being the Good Shepherd, or to the parable of the lost sheep. Sometimes when I am journaling I will use the same colour tab to connect themes together, for example a green label means the passage is about fruitfulness.

5. Explore words or phrases Following on from step 4, if a word or a phrase jumps out at me, I might research other passages of the Bible that use the same phrase, or I might research the passage or read it in other translations to explore the true meaning more. This step can be a bit intimidating and I don’t do it every time, but it can lead to some fascinating discoveries.

6. What did God say or do? Back to a simpler question now. In the passage what did God say or do? Sometimes my answers are very simple; God healed Nahum. God warned the people not to worship idols.

7. What did the people say or do? Again, I write very simple answers; “Daniel prayed to God even when he was ordered not to”, or “the people didn’t listen to God and ran away to Egypt.”

8. What is the theme? By theme, I mean what is this passage about. Is it about love? Or hope? Or leadership? Knowing the theme is helpful in deciding what to draw or how to illustrate the passage.

9. What is the aim? What is the point of this passage? What moral does it want to teach? What truth is revealed? What action is inspired? My answers to this question include things like; “to encourage people to trust in Jesus”, or “to call us to love one another”.

10. Pray and draw. At this point I will pray about the passage, thank God for His word and the truth that He shares with me. And then I will begin to plan what to draw. I find that as I am answering the questions above ideas spring to mind fairly quickly of what images I would like to create on the page. If it is something complicated I will practice in a scrapbook before attempting it in my Bible. Sometimes, I do the study part one night, and then come back to the artwork a week later. I like to take my time so spreading it out over a couple of weeks works well for me.

And that’s my process! I hope that has been helpful to you. I’ll share another week about the art side of it and what materials I like to use. But for now I thought it was more helpful to share about the studying side because I think that is an area that more people struggle with. I find this framework really useful and I tend to pull more out of the passage by doing this, then I would by just sitting and thinking about it.

I would love to hear how other people approach it so let me know in the comments if you have your own way of Bible Journaling!

My church is about to head into a pretty big transition. Our Pastor for the last 17 years leaves in February to a new position at another church. By God’s great grace this is set to be a peaceful parting, Rob and I are on the Leadership Team of our church and there is a strong united feeling amongst us all that God really is calling our Pastor and His wife to a new fellowship where they can do a tremendous amount of good. We are happy to release them with our full blessing and support to follow God’s call.

Even though this is going to be a healthy step it is still going to be a major leap into the unknown and unusual for our church. People will take on new responsibilities, changes will be made, there will be a fresh approach to some areas of ministry.

The phrase that keeps returning to my mind over and over again, is faith, not fear. I recently read this poem written by Kent Keith and allegedly revised by Mother Teresa

It drives home to me that that there are many fearful reasons to not do the right thing. You might be misunderstood, you might fail, you might feel alone. Some of your fears may very well be valid; people do get jealous of success, so why not just stay mediocre?

But letting your fears dictate your choices is a pretty poor way to live a life. I am so adamant that I don’t want to enter 2018 with a sense of fear, no matter how great the challenges are that lie ahead. Instead I want to let faith direct my choices and decisions. If you are ruled by fear you will always be mindful of the hundred things that can go wrong, but if you are ruled by faith you only need to think of one wonderful thing at a time.

Faith tells me that God is a Good Shepherd who has led our church faithfully to this point and He will lead us to take the next step, and the one after that. Faith tells me that God wants to build His Church in love, beauty and strength so I am filled with hope. Faith tells me that although my church is full of all kinds of different people with different viewpoints and experiences, that in Christ, we can have unity of the Spirit to move forward together as a family.

Faith tells me that even when I feel inadequate to be part of leadership that Christ is the all sufficient chief Pastor, and as long as I stick close to Him, I will be enough, just as I am in Him.

Faith, not fear, is all it takes to face the next step…and the one after that, and the one after that.